Do you know Finnish kids still learned to write in cursive until 2016? Generally, they used to write like the third column to the left in these photos:
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| Finnish Cursive Alphabet (A-N). Source: Marja-Leena Rathje |
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| Finnish Cursive Alphabet (O-Ö). Source: Marja-Leena Rathje |
Seeing these photos, I felt a sense of familiarity as I was also taught to write like this nearly 20 years ago in Vietnam.
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| My handwritten Vietnamese Cursive Alphabet in our typical purple ink. |
Calligraphy was among my favorite subjects in primary school. At age 24, I still enjoy this challenging yet relaxing art. Particularly, Japanese calligraphy. I'm always appealed to unfamiliar shapes...
When learning Finnish, I noticed very early how the two dots on ä and ö are usually written by Finns. Just like an accent mark. It could be a straight or arched or wiggling short stroke. I learned this through a blog post on love letters by Sirocco. Observe an example below. Do you see that the dots above letter ä aren't written as dots?
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| Beautiful handwritten letters in Finnish. Source: Sirocco |
Just a decade ago, the Finnish Board of Education published a new print-like model alphabet to save teaching time and adapt with digital age. Official samples and instructions can be downloaded here.
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| New Official Finnish Model Letters. Source: Opetushallitus |
Looks simple and clean. These letters are easy to write and clear to read. They are also introduced only as a foundation, meaning students can develop their own writing style later.
I bet they'll have to develop cursive writing at some point. Because it increases speed and flow. My own current handwriting is a mix of print and cursive. Capital letters are in print while the rest remains in uninterrupted cursive.
I guess that's all you need to know about Finnish handwriting as a foreign learner.
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